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VitalStim™ Therapy

If you suffer from the swallowing disorder known as dysphagia, VitalStim therapy may be able to help you.

People with dysphagia:
  • Have difficulty swallowing
  • Often experience pain while swallowing
  • Usually must be fed through a feeding tube
Common causes of dysphagia include:
  • Stroke
  • Radiation therapy to treat head and neck cancer

What Is VitalStim Therapy?

VitalStim therapy is the only therapy of its kind approved by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. VitalStim-certified therapists provide the therapy, which is used to treat the swallowing disorder known as dysphagia.

The Treatment Process
Our first step will be to x-ray your swallowing process.
  • Based on the x-ray, we’ll determine the placement of the electrodes on the neck and throat area.
  • Painless electrical stimulation of this area will help to “reteach” functional muscle-use patterns.
Patients receive 60-minute treatments three to five days per week.

After 10 sessions, patients are evaluated to determine their progress and whether more treatments are necessary. 		VitalStim™ Therapy Offers Hope

People eating pureed foods or taking nutrition from a feeding tube now have hope that they’ll be able to regain the ability to enjoy normal eating and drinking.


Location, Hours

Butler Memorial Hospital, 5th Floor
911 East Brady Street
Butler, PA 16001

(724) 284-4781

Monday - Friday
7:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.


"With conventional therapy, there were a lot of people for whom we would have had to say, ‘We can’t do anything more for you.’ We’re on our way to seeing successful outcomes (with VitalStim therapy), and it is something we would not have been able to do before."
Stephanie Brunn, a VitalStim certified speech therapist at Butler Memorial Hospital

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